1889/1919 BOBL Season 5 - FULL Topic

This league will use dual seasons, beginning with 1885 (the first season in the database) and 1915. It will progress from there to 1886/1916, then 1887/1917, and so on. We will use the 16 franchises from the 1915 season (posted below). You can come up with your own mascot/team name, but must use the true city name and stadium for your franchise, again using 1915 as the reference point. I will either use WIS league format B or E, so that we get 162 games and will have 4 playoff teams. League affiliation will reflect RL, divisions will be determined geographically. I’m open to either having interleague play or not. Feel free to chime in on that.

Here’s my spin: you do not pick a franchise when you sign up for the league. The first round of the draft will be determined by lottery (detailed in rules section below). In the first round you will select [1] your franchise (and therefore your city and stadium), and [2] your first player: your “franchise” player.

Your franchise player must be someone who actually spent a minimum of 3 seasons in real-life with your designated franchise, and has a season in the database for 1885 or 1915 (although not necessarily with your team in that specific year). For example, if you wanted Babe Ruth, then you could either choose the Boston (AL) or New York (AL) franchise because he played for 3 or more seasons with each team. You could not take Ruth with the Boston (NL) franchise because even though he did play there, it was only during one season. There will be no clones, so if someone takes Boston (AL) and Ruth, then NY will have to take someone else. Whether or not Boston decides later to sell him to the Yanks for a six-pack and a bag of chips will then be up to those two owners! After Round 1 there will be no restrictions on which players may be taken, as long as they are from either the 1885 or 1915 seasons. Because we are drafting from only 2 seasons initially (1885 and 1915) some franchises will be more limited than others in their choices for a franchise player in Round 1, while other franchises might get to choose between 2 or more strong options. That means round 2 will have quite a few excellent players left for those franchises who were at the bottom of Round 1, and may not have had a decent selection for franchise player. The initial draft will go 1-16, 16-1, 16-1 and then serpentine from there until everyone has a full roster.

Everyone will need to be somewhat familiar with baseball history, but even if not, www.baseball-reference.com can tell you most everything you’ll need to know. (There is also a thread in the SimLeague Baseball forum which covers the topic). For example, when searching for a franchise player, note that the Chicago White Stockings and the Chicago White Sox are not the same franchise. The Chicago (NL) Cubs were previously known as the White Stockings, then the Colts, and finally the Cubs. The Chicago (AL) White Sox have only ever been the White Sox. That means the Chicago (NL) franchise could select Cap Anson in Round 1, because he played for the White Stockings/Colts. Chicago (AL) could not select Anson in Round 1. This is just one example of the type of things you want to be aware of.

I would love to see the league run long enough to mirror some of the other RL evolution of the game, such as franchises relocating to new cities (starting in the 50’s), expansion (beginning in the 60’s), and the introduction of the DH (in the 70’s). If I can gather a group of owners dedicated enough to go 30+ seasons this way, then we’ll move forward with those changes in each corresponding season. That’s looking way, way ahead, though. So I’ll just start by filling and running season 1.

Disclaimer: Having been an owner in a few Progressive Leagues in both baseball and basketball on WIS, I am throwing my hat into the ring to attempt and run one. I have borrowed heavily from other leagues in terms of rules, draft methods, lottery, etc, and cannot take credit for any ideas used. I’ve simply done some research and pulled things together into a progressive theme of my own design. At first, I wanted to start with the 16 original franchises of the World Series era (beginning in 1903), but there simply aren’t enough players in the database to properly fill 16 rosters in those early seasons. So the above and below are what I came up with.

Initial Draft:
21 rounds total. 1 player per round in rounds 1-17. 2 players per round in rounds 18-21. The draft order will be determined by lottery. Round 1 will be #1-16, round 2 is #16-1, round 3 is #16-1 and serpentine from that point forward. We will do the 1st and 2nd rounds off-the-clock and then rounds 3 thru 9 we will do 1 round per day on-the-clock with one-hour increments. Rounds 10 thru 21 will be two rounds per day on-the-clock with half-hour increments. If you miss a pick it can be made up at anytime, however sending proxies is recommended. The initial draft will be a fairly long process, but since it sets the tone for you for several seasons, I think it is important enough to allow it to drag out for a few weeks (but not longer than that).

Subsequent Drafts:
First round will have the first 8 draft positions determined by weighted lottery for the 8 teams with the worst records at the 120-game mark. Remaining picks in round one, and order for all subsequent rounds will be worst to first determined by W/L record at game 120. Tie-breakers will be head-to-head record, and if still tied then total team salary with the lower salary team winning the tie and the higher pick. Must have 40 wins by game 120 to be eligible for lottery.

The draft will generally be timed to conclude at about the same time the previous season’s playoffs are finished. As much as is possible drafting will be conducted “off the clock”. Once the playoffs begin for the current season, draft will go on the clock with a minimum of one round per day.

Lottery Details:
We will use the New York lottery system Quick Draw game. It's basically a keno draw where 20 random numbers are chosen between 1-80. There are 351 daily draws - every four minutes starting at Midnight and ending at 23:56 EST. Once the league fills, we will select one future days worth of drawings. Most likely the next day after we have filled all 16 spots. In the initial draft, each team will be assigned 20 consecutive drawings (time specific). Then once ALL the NY lottery selections have been made we'll add up each set of twenty numbers and the team with lowest combined total for a single drawing wins the 1st draft spot and so on. In the event of a tie we will compare each set of numbers starting with the lowest number in each selected set until one team wins. For example if two teams have a drawing with a total of 621 and one set of the lowest numbers is (1, 2, 4, 7, 12 etc.) and another group has (1, 2, 3, 8, 14 etc.) the 1's cancel out, the 2's cancel out, and the 3 is lower than 4 so the 1, 2, 3, 8, 14 etc. set of numbers wins.

In draft lottery for all subsequent seasons, the lottery will be weighted thusly: team with worst record will be assigned 89 consecutive entries, second worst team gets 72 entries, then 57 entries, 45 entries, 34 entries, 25 entries, 18 entries, and 11 entries for the following eligible teams. Draft order for those 8 teams will be determined following the same method described above. Any questions just ask.

Player Pool
The league begins with the 1885/1915 seasons and progresses forward to 1886/1916, 1887/1917, and so on. Any player with a WIS-eligible season for the given year is fair game.

Roster Structure:
25 man team with no limitations on salary.

Must have minimum of 1200 IP and 4000 PA on your active roster.
If a player has combined/split seasons you can use whatever you want.
Unlimited spaces for DL players.
Must have less than 25 players to participate in the draft.

No limit on how many players may be kept from one season to the next, but no more than 12 may be drafted in a given season, including cuts, retirees, and IR.

Injured Reserve
An IR list will be maintained for players that miss a season due to injuries (or whatever). There is no limit on the number of players that can be on IR, as long as it does not put you over the 12 player max needed to draft. To be placed on IR, a player must be owned by the team and must have played in a previous season. In other words, a player cannot be drafted and placed directly on IR. They must have played an active season for your team and then have a gap between WIS-eligible seasons to be placed on IR.

Keeper Lists
It is not mandatory that owners cut anyone. Keeper lists are to be posted under the appropriate thread in the league forum within 5 days after the 120-game trade deadline is reached in the current season.

Draft Picks

Each team will be awarded as many picks in the draft as are needed to complete their 25-man roster. In other words, if you keep 23 players, you get 2 draft picks. If you keep 16 players, you get 9 draft picks. No more than 12 draft picks will be permitted in any given draft after the initial draft.

Trades

Trades details are to be posted in the private league forum, and a sitemail sent to all owners for review. Upon posting and confirmation by both owners, trades will be subject to review by all league owners for 24 hours. A trade that is vetoed by 5 or more owners will not be permitted. If a trade passes the review process without being vetoed, then it may be entered and completed thru the GM’s Offices of the involved teams. Trades may take place both in-season and off-season. Off-Season begins once the trade deadline is reached (120-game mark), and ends when the last scheduled draft pick is posted by the owner making that pick. Offseason trades will take effect on the roster for the upcoming season.

Owners who traded away a draft pick must cut at least as many players from their keeper list as the number of draft picks traded. In other words, if a team trades away two draft picks for the next season, that team must drop at least two players when it comes time for the affected draft. Trading of draft picks may not go beyond two upcoming drafts (ie. you may trade a pick from this season and next season… a draft pick for a season further out than that may not be traded).

Trades between teams owned by the same person will not be allowed. This includes 3-way trades involving two teams owned by the same person, and “chained” trades or “pass through” trades where separate trades are made close together involving some or all of the same players ultimately having the effect of moving players between two teams owned by the same person. The commissioner will nullify any such trades deemed to be in violation of the intent of the rule.

Team Names:
In order to keep with the spirit of the franchise aspect of this league, all teams will need to use the city/state name of your RL franchise, followed by a team name/mascot of your choosing, real or made-up (just please keep them G-Rated). Once a franchise is taken it is yours for the life of the league. You may add the year to your team name to keep them straight if you like. The only time an owner would change cities would be if the RL franchise relocated between seasons (ie. Boston Braves to Milwaukee in 1953… but that would be 38 seasons in!).

Stadiums

Your stadium used will be that stadium used by your corresponding RL franchise each season. Since it is a dual-season league, we go by the later of the two seasons as a reference point. That is, for the inaugural 1885/1915 season, we use the 1915 stadiums. The second season will use the 1916 stadiums, and so on. Thus, stadiums will change in conjunction with the RL franchises. If the RL team built a new stadium or moved cities, then your team will do the same.

Additional RulesWIS league format B or E: 162 games, 4 playoff teams, with or without interleague play (subject to vote).

No salary cap

No DH

No waiver wire

AAA - 6 batters and 2 pitchers, all below average.

Simleague Live - limited to next scheduled series only
Split/Combined Seasons – Owners choice, use whatever you want
Clones – Players are exclusive to one owner and only 1 instance of a player may be used on your team.

Tanking is NOT allowed. Play your best and be a spoiler.

Rule Additions/Deletions/Changes:
Over time, the league may decide to add, delete, or change the league rules. Such changes will be made by the commissioner only as desired by popular demand and for the overall good of the league.

Do you stop the dual year when you reach 1914/1944? I have interest in a history of baseball type league, and getting a chance to build a team using the players from the early era's, however I wonder if the impact of the differences between baseball in 1890's and in the 1920's will make for some oddities? I do recognize the number of players available in a running a single season is problematic as the number of players could cause problems.

I am interested though, and would like to be included when you get the league off the ground.

Posted by dbjerke on 3/4/2012 10:26:00 PM (view original):Do you stop the dual year when you reach 1914/1944? I have interest in a history of baseball type league, and getting a chance to build a team using the players from the early era's, however I wonder if the impact of the differences between baseball in 1890's and in the 1920's will make for some oddities? I do recognize the number of players available in a running a single season is problematic as the number of players could cause problems.

I am interested though, and would like to be included when you get the league off the ground.

The plan is to continue with dual seasons. 30 years is enough that there will never be clones of a single player at the same time, and although there will be some impact to changes in the game over that period, it won't be as bad as having dead-ball players vs. modern players. I wish there were enough players in the sim to fill all 16 franchises from a single season, though...